Really, it's the first house on the left...but when you do a full circle...there you have it.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Can You Ever Go Home?

I was on my way to the airport yesterday, on my way to New York. My dad is having a triple bypass on Monday and I was flying home, probably more for my sake than his, but there you have it. Anyway, in the car on the way to the airport I said to my husband, "I'm not really sure where it is I'm going". I mean, I'm going home...but what exactly is "home"? As a child of an military parents, I always considered "home" the place where I had lived the longest. When I was a child (waaaayyyyy back when) that was Maryland...because dad was stationed there longer than anyplace else. Then, he was stationed in New York, where we lived in 2 different houses on base before he decided that this was where he wanted to to retire (after he put in his 30 years, figuring that he only had 3 more years to go and of COURSE the AF wouldn't transfer him so close to the end of his career) and my parents bought a house. And then received orders to Louisiana. So instead of having 30 years, he retired with 27 years 9 months in the house they just bought. But I digress...

So, I'm in the home where I spent the last 2 years of my high school years, the first 2 years of my college years before going to Indiana to finish college. From there, I moved to California and spent 6 years having a ball. Still, home was New York. Then I moved to Maryland (for work and to be a bit closer to my now aging parents), got married and had 2 of my 4 kids before packing up and moving lock stock and (smoking) barrel to Minnesota, where we have lived, adding 2 more kids to the mix, in the same house for 12 years. I think of that and go WOW...I have lived in this(actually that...because I'm "home" now) house longer than I have lived ANYWHERE in my entire 40 (something...ahem) years.

But is it "home"? What is "home"? Will we always consider the place where our parents are "home" until we no longer have parents? When I consider my daily life, of course home is where I live, love and laugh (OK, sometimes fight) with my husband and kids. But in the grand scheme of things, when you hit my age...where, or maybe more appropriately, what is "home"?

About Me

I am a newly divorced (after 24 years of marriage) fifty something year old mom of 4 who now has the opportunity to reinvent myself. Never thought I'd be here but sometimes God gives us blessings in unconventional ways. BUT...I still call myself a conservative and make no apologies for it. THAT hasn't changed.